Brothers
by MysteryPT
Summary: Ryoma is Kunimitsu's younger brother. Both of them are in Seigaku's Tennis Club. Tezuka acted indifferently towards his brother.. Or did he went too far? Rated T because I don't know what to rate it with. [Pillar Pair] Beta-ed by EmeraldRain25
1. Prologue

**Hooray! My first Prince of Tennis fanfic! I hope you guys are going to go easy on me. I haven't known all of the characters yet, since I kept on skipping the chapters.. Anyway, in this fic, Echizen Ryoma will be the younger brother of Tezuka Kunimitsu, changing his name into Tezuka Ryoma. I suddenly fell in love with the pillar pair lol, so anyway, hope you enjoy this fic!**

**Beta-ed version by EmeraldRain25! Thanks a bunch, you made the fic a whole lot better lol**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, too bad..**

* * *

Ryoma strode casually into the dining room. Walking over to the fridge to grab a can of ponta, he stopped, and turned to stare at the table.

Laying motionless on the kitchen table was a small, white envelope. Chances were his mother had placed it there. Picking it up, he turned it over, looking for a recipient.

"Great," He muttered, when only the words 'Tezuka-kun' were written on the front of it. The last thing he needed was to open the letter, only to find that it was addressed to his brother. He sighed, brought the envelope to his room, and placed it on his dresser. Laying down on his bed, he began waiting for his brother to get home from tennis practice.

His name was Tezuka Ryoma. In a few days he would begin his freshman year at Seishun Gakuen Junior High, or Seigaku for short.

His brother, Tezuka Kunimitsu, would be in his third year at the same school.

During his brother's first year at Seigaku, he had injured his left arm. His brother still made regular visits to a local physician, but he is slowly, but surely recovering. Ryoma had insisted that his brother rest a little before returning to tennis practice, but as usual, Ryoma was ignored. He was pretty proud to say that his brother would be the tennis club's captain this year.

Tennis.

It was the one of the things both Ryoma and Kunimitsu had in common. Both of them loved tennis and both of them were very skilled at it.

* * *

"Tadaima **(1),**"Ryoma heard a familiar voice. He ran downstairs and saw a tall brunette carrying his tennis bag.

"Okaerinasai**(2),** Nii-san**(3)**." Ryoma said, somewhat relieved.

"Is anything the matter, Ryoma?" Kunimitsu(Mitsu) asked his otouto**(4)**.

"I got a letter, Mitsu-nii-san, but it's only addressed to 'Tezuka-kun'. I don't know if it's for you or me." Ryoma said bluntly, seeing no need for useless formalities.

"So, where's the envelope?" Tezuka asked.

Ryoma looked at his brother, slightly embarrassed. "It's in my.. Our room." said Ryoma.

Tezuka remained calm. "You weren't planning to move into the guest room and declare it as your room again?" he asked.

Ryoma blushed. "Well.. I sorta did.. But I'll move back.." he mumbled.

Heading to the guest room on the second floor, he grabbed his books and some clothes, along with a certain envelope and brought them to the room he shared with his brother. Tezuka simply followed, not saying anything until Ryoma handed him the letter. He opened the envelope and began reading it.

"Ah, it's just junkmail." Tezuka said after a pause, while throwing away the letter.

"I see.." Ryoma said.

"So, you're going to be joining Seigaku soon, right? Will you be joining the tennis club?" Tezuka asked after a long silence in the room.

"Yeah, and I assure you, that I'll be a regular even though I'm only a first year. After all, everyone is just mada mada dane**(5)**." Ryoma answered, cocky.

"Yudan sezu ni ikou**(6)**, Ryoma." was all Tezuka said before he took a decent bath.

* * *

"Mada mada dane." Ryoma said after defeating an arrogant second year named Arai.

Arai, who was furious at being defeated by a first year, pushed Ryoma. Ryoma backed up into Horio. This caused Horio, who was collecting balls, to trip and all the tennis balls in the basket he was carrying to stream across the courts. This ended up causing all the second years who was playing at a nearby court to fall. In just a few seconds, the courts were in a state of chaos.

Suddenly, eight people wearing Seigaku Jackets entered the court. They were the regulars. One of them, of course, was the captain of the tennis team, Tezuka Kunimitsu.

"Everyone, 20 laps for causing chaos, now!" Many protested, causing Tezuka to give an additional ten laps. More people wanted to protest, but no one wanted more laps to run, so all of them decided to stay quiet.

_'Nii-san, you're so mean..'_ Ryoma thought as he ran his twentieth lap.

Unbeknownst to him, a few of the regulars were talking about the 'mysterious freshman'.

"That boy, look at him, Inui." The tennis tensai**(7),** Fuji Shuusuke, pointed at Ryoma.

The data tennis player, Inui Sadaharu, nodded. "It's his twentieth lap and he hasn't even broken a sweat. There's a 95 percent chance that he still won't be sweating after he's finished his last lap."

"Who is he?" The egg headed Fukubuchou**(8)** asked to no one in particular. Unexpectedly(to the regulars), Tezuka was the one to answer.

"He's Ryoma.. Tezuka Ryoma. My younger brother." Momoshiro's jaw dropped in surprise. Meanwhile Ryoma had finished his lap and walked over to the regulars.

"Mada mada dane." He said his usual catchphrase.

Ryoma was confused when all the regulars, minus Tezuka, looked at him as if studying him.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He was irritated when nobody answered.

"If there's nothing wrong, would you excuse me? And Ni.." Ryoma stopped. "Te.. Tezuka buchou**(9)**, I've finished running my laps." He continued after quite a long pause.

"Then you may start with your swinging practice. Six hundred swings." Tezuka answered.

_'Those two.. They're brothers?!'_ Momoshiro thought, looking at Ryoma, Tezuka and then Ryoma again.

"How unique.." Fuji muttered.

* * *

**(1)**Usual greeting said when one comes back (home, to one's office...) from outside

**(2)**Greeting said to someone who comes back from outside (= compare with "tadaima").

**(3) **Older brother.

**(4) **Younger brother.

**(5)** You've still got lots more to work on.

**(6)**Don't let your guard down.

**(7) **Genius.

**(8)** It's the vice-president of a club.

"Fuku-" 副 means "vice-" or "deputy."  
"Bucho" 部長 means "the head of a department" or "the president of a club."  
"Bu" 部 is a club as well as a department in Japanese.

**(9)** President of a club.

**How was it? I hope you love it! Please review, I always appreciate reviews from you guys!**

**Fuji: I predict that the next chapter would be a complicated relationship between Ryoma-kun and Tezuka-buchou!**

**Momo: I can't believe that THAT Tezuka-buchou has a younger brother!**

**Tezuka: What are you talking about?**

**Jaa ne!**


	2. Spying

**Hello! Thanks for those who followed and favorited this story! This will be the first chapter! I hope you enjoy it!**

**Here's the beta-ed version! Thanks to EmeraldRain25! The fic's alot better after you beta it lol**

**Back to the story!**

* * *

"Tadaima.." The Tezuka brothers called out in sync, as they entered the house.

No one answered. It was pretty expected though - there was no one home after all.

Both of them placed their shoes on the rack beside the door and headed to the dining room. Afternoon practice had been cancelled for the day. This meant they were able to head home early. Tezuka was relieved - he didn't feel like answering anymore questions from his teammates about Ryoma today.

Sitting down, they opened the bento box's their mother had prepared for them, muttered "Itadakimasu" and ate slowly.

"How was your day?" Tezuka asked, keeping his usual stoic façade in place.

Ryoma looked up and answered, "One of my classmate's is Horio, that Mr. Know-it-all. And I ran thirty laps without breaking a sweat.. The usual."

Tezuka mentally frowned. "I was glad that you kept being professional on the court." Tezuka said, changing the subject.

"That was so unfair of you, you know?!" Ryoma exclaimed, sticking to the original subject. "You assigned me laps even though I was the victim. Not only that, but I didn't even do anything to spread the chaos!" Ryoma protested.

"Two years ago, almost the same thing happened to me. That's the time when I got injured. You should be glad I only assigned you thirty laps." Tezuka said. "I got a hundred laps." Tezuka continued, eye's narrowed ever so slightly.

Ryoma closed his mouth. "Nii-san, about that buchou thing... Do I really have to call you 'Tezuka-buchou' instead of just 'Nii-san'? It's pretty irritating, you know.. Especially this morning. Your glare was creepy.. It immediately silenced me!" Ryoma pouted.

"Well, don't you think that we should keep it professional?" Tezuka mentally smiled at his younger brother's comment. Although when Ryoma didn't say anything and continued to pout, Tezuka gave in. "Fine, But only during practice, okay?"

Ryoma smiled happily, but it ultimately ended up looking more like a smirk, "Alright."

"Wanna go get ice cream?" Tezuka suggested, showing one of those thin, rare smiles.

"As long as it's your treat."Ryoma agreed.

Tezuka sighed and shook his head. "Okay.. I guess no icecream then. I want to be able to buy some Ponta tomorrow." What lots of people didn't know, was that Tezuka also shared Ryoma's extreme like for Ponta.

"Let's play tennis, Mitsu-nii-san." Ryoma suddenly said, standing up and heading upstairs to grab his racket.

* * *

"6-3. You won, Mitsu-nii-san." Ryoma said, using a towel to wipe some sweat off his face.

His brother nodded. "You're getting better, Ryoma." Tezuka noted.

"Not really, you were holding back, right?" Ryoma answered.

"As a matter of fact, yes I did." Tezuka answered bluntly, causing Ryoma to glare at his brother.

Ryoma pouted. "I just can't defeat you, Mitsu-nii-san.. Not this time anyway. But I swear, one day I'm going to defeat you! After all, right now I'm still mada mada dane. I'm sure that I'll be able to counter that Zero Shiki Drop of yours one day. Oh, and also the Tezuka Zone!" he said, as they packed up their belongings and headed home to shower. What they didn't realise, was that there's someone.. Some people, spying on them.

"He IS Tezuka's little brother!" The acrobatic player, Eiji, exclaimed in surprised."They don't even look alike!"

"And I thought I knew Tezuka." The Fuku-buchou, Oishi, said in disbelief.

"Fssshu.." Kaidoh, the player called viper, hissed.

"Stop it, Mamushi. You're annoying when you do that." the power player, Momo said.

"What did you say, peach?" Kaidoh muttered.

"There's a 100 percent chance that Momo and Kaidoh will start fighting if no one stops them." Inui said calmly, looking at his notebook.

"Stop fighting, alright? Or I'll tell Tezuka to assign you guys a hundred laps!" Oishi threatened. Needless to say, both of them shut up.

"But he's pretty good though, Tezuka's brother. Even though Tezuka is holding back.." Fuji murmured.

"O'chibi is awesome! I wish I could play against him in the ranking tournament!" Eiji exclaimed, latching onto Oishi.

"O.. O'chibi? Who.. BURNING! Are you BURNING talking about?! Oooohhh!" The player with two different personalities, Takashi, said. Now if you're asking yourself, just how exactly the sentence became so weird, the answer is quite simple. It was because someone had just so happened to have slipped a racket into the power player's hand mid sentence.

"O'chibi, Tezuka's younger brother! It's too confusing calling both of them Tezuka, so I gave him a nickname! It sounds cute, right?" Eiji answered cheerfully.

"I don't think that Ryoma-kun will think that. There's a 97% chance he'll think you're teasing him about his height." Inui said, still looking at his notebook.

Suddenly, they saw the younger Tezuka come back. Ryoma walked over to the court and picked up his white Fila cap that was laying on the ground. All of them were about to sneak away, but sadly the younger Tezuka saw them.

"Senpai-tachi? What are you doing here?" Ryoma approached them.

Fuji, the only person calm enough to talk at the moment, said. "We were just here for some practise, and saw you guys playing. Then for a reason I can't understand, we all decided not to practice anymore. I guess we're just tired."

"And why are you guys hiding?" Ryoma asked again, curious.

"Well, I guess it's just some odd reflex.. You get what I mean, right?" Fuji said.

The regulars sweatdropped.

'How can Fuji lie so calmly?! Look at his innocent face! He's so calm! I doubt even a lie detector machine would be able to detect Fuji's lie!' Oishi thought.

Ryoma seemed to buy Fuji's lie, because he left almost immediately after saying "Jaa ne, senpai-tachi.."

"That. Was. Close." Momoshiro whistled and Kaidoh surprisingly agreed.

"That was one hell of a lie!" Eiji said.

After they had calmed down, all of them decided to go get burgers together.

"I want to know if Tezuka-buchou will put Ryoma's name in the ranking tournament.. And in which block he will go in... Oh man, I really wish that I could play against him! Too bad first years aren't able to play in an official match yet.. Well, except if permitted by buchou.." Momo said, unhappy.

"Let's just see what happens tomorrow." Fuji explained calmly. All of them nodded.

* * *

"Mitsu Nii-san, I saw your friends at the court just now. It seemed that they were.. Spying on us?"

"Sou desu ka?"

"Hai.."

"..."

"What are you thinking about, Nii-san? Thinking about assigning them laps?"

"Probably."

"Ahh, what a mean buchou.." Ryoma said teasingly.

"What did you say?" Tezuka asked with a stern voice.

"Err.. Nothing.. I'm gonna go shower now!" Ryoma yelled as he ran to the shower.

* * *

**Beta-ed by EmeraldRain25, folks! Updated on 25 August my local time :3**

**Reviews will be appreciated!**


	3. Running Laps, Stolen Bag

**Hello again, and welcome to the second chapter! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter! Thanks for the reviews, favs, and follows too! I appreciate it so much!**

**Anyway, like I said in the last chapter, I am currently looking for a beta, preferably one who knows a lot about PoT/TeniPuri.. If you want to apply, please PM me!**

**Disclaimer(I forgot this the last chapter, if I'm not wrong): PoT does not belong to me. But if it is, I'll make more Pillar Pair and Acrobatic Pair scenes more!**

**Now back to the story!**

* * *

"Mitsu, do you mind waking Ryoma up?" his mom asked. He nodded. "Hai, okaa-san." he answered. He went upstairs silently, he didn't want to wake the others up. His target was only Ryoma, his ototou.

He is Tezuka Kunimitsu. A third year in Seigaku Jr High, as well as the tennis captain.

"Ryoma. It's time to wake up. Don't be lazy or you'll be late to morning practice or I'll have to assign you laps." he said, shaking his brother's body slightly. He waited patiently for his brother to wake up.

"Nggh.. I want to sleep.." was Ryoma's answer. Tezuka didn't look like he's irritated, rather, he stayed calm.

"Alright. Maybe I'll just leave you here, sleeping. And then you'll be late for morning practice, and then I'll assign you a hundred laps. Works for me." and he went to shower. Right after hearing 'a hundred laps', Ryoma automatically woke up. He went to eat breakfast first, since his brother was still using the bathroom.

"I see, to wake you up, I have to taunt you with laps." Tezuka said. Both of them were walking side by side on an alley, both of them carrying their own school bag and tennis bag. "Oh shut up, Mitsu onii-san!" Ryoma said, annoyed. After that, none of them talked. Right when they turned right, they saw a certain redhead.

"Ohayou Tezuka, Ochibi!" Eiji exclaimed happily while glomping Ryoma from the side. "Ohayou, Eiji." Tezuka said flatly. "He.. Hey! Senpai, put me down!" Ryoma said, a little raging mad. "Heheh.. Sorry, Ochibi!" Eiji said excitedly. All three of them decided to walk together.

"So, Tezuka, have you decided about the ranking tournament? You're gonna post it today, nya?" Eiji asked. "Yes, I'm planning to finish it today. You're going to see who you're going to go against soon enough. Probably during afternoon practice." Tezuka answered. Ryoma 'hmph'-ed, he was excluded from the chat, since he knew almost nothing about it. _'ranking tournament? Will Mitsu onii-san be the one in charge of it? If so, I hope he puts me in the tournaments!' _Ryoma thought.

* * *

"Hahh! It's the first time I got just in time with Tezuka, hahaa.." Eiji said. Tezuka heard that, and asked. "If that's so.. Probably you forgot something at home? You're never early, you usually get here almost at the same time as the day before and the day before that.."

"Maybe you forgot your breakfast, or maybe your books, or something?" Ryoma suggested. "Oh my Dangoro! I forgot my lunch!" Eiji screamed. For a second both Tezukas wondered what on earth is Dangoro. Then it was the younger Tezuka to be the only one thinking what is Dangoro. "Ah, Dangoro is my.. Teddy bear!" Eiji said. At first he was sad since he forgot to bring his lunch, be he quickly recovered.

"It seems that everyone came in time." Fuji said calmly. All of them started their warm-ups. The regulars plus Ryoma were the fastest, of course. Horio, who claimed himself to be a player with two years of experience, couldn't even make it to the tenth lap. No one looked at him, or even pitied him.

"Tezuka-buchou." he held his irritation and called the captain. Thankfully he caught the captain's attention by just calling him once. "I would like to have a match with Arai-senpai again. Will you allow that?" Ryoma asked his brother. Arai-senpai had been bothering Ryoma again, to the point that Ryoma couldn't tolerate anymore. Arai-senpai stole his tennis bag. And challenged Ryoma to play a match with him to get his tennis bag back. Tezuka shook his head. "No, I will not allow that." the brunette said. "Whatever, like I wanted to realy ask permission anyway." Ryoma mumbled. Unfortunately, Tezuka could hear that.

"Ryoma, ten laps, now." the brunette said with a dangerous voice. "What did I do?!" Ryoma asked. He thought that Tezuka couldn't hear what Ryoma had just said. "Make that twenty laps. You know what you did. Now start running or I'll give you forty laps." Tezuka said, still in a dangerous voice. Not wanting to run more laps, Ryoma started running. He finished twenty laps in no time. Then he decided to play a match with Arai anyway. He wanted his tennis bag back. It hurt part of his pride on what Arai did.

"Fine, Arai-senpai. Let's have a match." Ryoma said to Arai right after he approached Arai. Arai grinned at the sight of Ryoma going right at his plan. "Use this dusty racket. It's the only racket I found, since right now you don't have one." Arai said, handing Ryoma a really dusty racket, with strings tied loose. Ryoma figured easily that Arai wanted to embarrass him this way. He muttered "Mada mada dane." and went to an unused court.

"Game match*, 6-0 Ryoma." Katsuo, who suddenly just became the referee, said. Arai was so enraged. He tried to humiliate that cocky freshman, but he got humiliated instead! Tezuka, who was watching since the start, knew two things. One, he must be punished because he had disobeyed orders. And two, his little brother was so skilled. He walked towards Ryoma and said sternly, "thirty laps for disobeying orders. I told you that I do not permit you to have a match." Ryoma looked at his brother. "What about that senpai?" he asked, pointing at Arai. "Arai, you'll run fifteen laps for stealing his tennis bag." Tezuka said. Arai grumbled, but he started running immediately.

"That's not fair! He's the one who started it!" Ryoma almost yelled. "It's your fault to accept his 'challenge'. Now start running." Tezuka managed to keep his stoic face, even though he's so close to exploding. "Fine!" Ryoma shouted while he started running.

"Tezuka.. I think that you're too hard on Ryoma-kun." Fuji said to Tezuka. "Now you decided to stop pretending that you don't know Ryoma, huh?" Tezuka said, not looking at Fuji. "Come on, he's your brother. Don't be too hard on him." Fuji said, almost not smiling anymore. Tezuka didn't answer and just took his things and went upstairs since morning practice would end soon.

_'There's Ryoma's' tennis bag. I'll just put it here.' _Tezuka said. He had found Ryoma's bag. Actually not far away from the locker room. A thought suddenly crossed Tezuka's mind. He already thought of the names for the rankings tournament. He smirked when he got to Ryuzaki-sensei's room and wrote the names for the four blocks.

"What do we have here?" Ryuzaki-sensei talked to herself when she found that the papers had been filled by Tezuka's neat handwriting. She was very amused to see who's in block D.

* * *

**Alright! The third chapter is finished! And for those who wondered.. No, I am not updating daily. It's just that a rain of inspiration had just fallen into me (?)**

***I don't know what it's called. I do read Prince of Tennis but I'm too lazy to check it out once more. I'm also not really playing tennis, though I do in the past... The score was also a complete made-up. It was said that the match was interrupted in the canon, so I don't know the results. **

**Please review, and if I made any mistakes, please tell me! Jaa, minna!**


	4. Captain's Decision

**Hello and welcome to the next chapter! I appreciate the reviews, follows and favorites!**

**Anyway, from this chapter sometimes Ryoma will speak English. It would be in bold and italic!**

**Again, I'm looking for a beta, preferably one who's good at TeniPuri/PoT. Please PM me!**

**Let's go back to the story!**

* * *

"Tezuka, read the fourth paragraph!" his teacher said, holding his anger. The said student woke up and looked at the fourth paragraph. 'Do I really need to learn this? I'm bored.'

"Okay.. Here I go.." he mumbled to himself. "Um.. _**'On the way to school today, every one ignored me. I wonder what was going on, but didn't really care about it, as usual. That didn't actually mattered to me, because many people ignored me everyday, though. But what actually bothered me was that even my best friend ignored me!'**_ Is that enough, sensei?" Tezuka Ryoma asked. Reading this was a piece of cake for him, since he stayed in America for a year. The sensei was flabbergasted. "You have a nice pronunciation, Tezuka." the sensei said as Ryoma smirked and muttered "Mada mada dane." silently.

It was the second period today in class 3-1. Ryuzaki-sensei entered the class with a bright smile. She taught her students the first chapter like usual, but she couldn't stop her grin eveytime she saw a certain student in her class. After deciding that she wouldn't be able to hide her grin nor her laughter, she quickly gave her students math problems to solve while she 'take something from her office'. Right outside the corridor, she bursted laughing.

"Oishi*, what happened to Ryuzaki-sensei?" Tezuka asked nonchalantly. Oishi, who sat beside Tezuka, shrugged. "I'll check it out." Tezuka said. He asked permission from the class leader, pretending that he needs to have a bathroom break (much to his classmates' surprise) and went out as quick as he could.

"Ryuzaki-sensei, why are you laughing like that?" Tezuka asked right after he closed his classroom's door. The other students tried their hardest to listen their chat, even the leader. Most of the class haven't done the math problems yet, but they're too curious.

"Well what else?! It's because of you!" Ryuzaki said, finally able to drop her laughter into panting. _'I knew it.' _Tezuka thought. "I presume that the exact reason to it is the note, Ryuzaki-sensei?" Tezuka asked. Ryuzaki nodded. After talking fr another while, both of them went in.

"Oishi, you eavesdropped, didn't you?" Tezuka glared at his seatmate.

"Well, me and the rest of the class. What note are you guys talking about? Is it a secret?" Oishi asked.

"I promise, you'll be able to read it. It's nothing personal. In fact, it's related to our tennis club's rankings tournament." Tezuka answered quickly. "Alright." was all what Oishi answered.

"Hey Fuji-senpai, I didn't see Mitsu onii-san and Oishi fukubuchou anywhere.." Ryoma said to Fuji. Ryoma knew that Fuji already stopped pretending that he didn't know Ryoma.

"Probably they're with Ryuzaki-sensei. They have to organize the blocks for the rankings tournament." Fuji answered. Ryoma nodded. "I see.." he answered and started warming up.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Both Ryuzaki and Tezuka waited for Oishi to stop laughing. Ryuzaki was close to start laughing again, but she managed to control herself. "Are you done? Tezuka asked his friend after his five minutes of laughing. Oishi nodded, but he was still chuckling.

"Actually this is a good positioning, you know. At the same time, you're being kind in a way." Oishi said. Tezuka nodded. "Shall we post this now?" he asked. "Yes." Oishi answered.

* * *

"Hey! That's Tezuka-buchou and Oishi-fukubuchou!" one of the second year student yelled loud enough for Ryoma to hear, but not too loud so that the two said people couldn't hear. Ryoma raised his head after finishing his Grape Ponta. "There's the bocks for the rankings tournament!" this time Arai shouted. _'Rankings tournament? I heard first years aren't allowed to join. I'll just take a quick glance, that's all.' _Ryoma thought to himself, not wanting to hurt his heart to the fact that there's almost a zero percent chance that he would be able to join the tournament.

"Wait, what? I'm going against that cocky rookie? And since when did first years are allowed to join?!" Ryoma could hear Arai's protest. He was shocked. Was it him? He ran like a wind** and squeezed between the second and third years. He can't believe his eyes when he looked at Block D.

**_BLOCK D  
Rankings Tournament_**

**_Masashi Arai (2nd year)  
Tezuka Ryoma (1st year)  
Kaidoh Kaoru (2nd year)  
Mikami Koji (3rd year)_ **

His heart pounded hard to know that he would be able to join the rankings tournament. But that's not all. He would be able to really humiliate Arai for stealing his tennis bag and bully him. Hi smirked, looked up to the sky, and muttered "Mada mada dane."

"Tezuka, you are kind after all." Fuji said after looking at the Block D. Tezuka looked at Fuji and gave him the exact same note he showed Ryuzaki-sensei and Oishi earlier.

_To anybody who's reading this._

_Putting Ryoma into block D is the cause of my professional opinion. If you don't agree with my decision, please tell me, Oishi or Ryuzaki-sensei. We'll change it as soon as possible. And if you would be so kind, if by any chance Ryoma asked you about this thing, please answer that it was Oishi and Ryuzaki sensei's decision to do so, I was just giving advices. I appreciate your help._

_Tezuka Kunimitsu_

Fuji bursted out laughing.

* * *

**OK. How's it? I tried my best, but I think this time it's a little short. I hope that fact didn't stop you from reviewing! Please, I would appreciate any feedbacks, opinions, critics!**

***I didn't find any regulars in the same class as Tezuka, so I made the whole thing up.**

****I just watched Toy Story 2 and Woody was like "Run like a wind, Bullseye!" and I thought probably it would make a good metaphor?**

**Please review!**


	5. Block D, Part 1

**Hello again guys! Thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows! I really appreciate it!**

**Anyway, there's this guy, Animelver14, who realised that the Block D is supposed to have Inui, right? Well, he/she's right. It's supposed to be like that, but I'd like to make some twist(?) in this story! And review answer for Yuu:**

**Ryoma: Miss/Mister Yuu, you don't know what kind of a pokerfaced man he is.. Trust me.**

**Anyway, let's go back to the story!**

* * *

Ryoma smirked more when he realized his **FULL **name was written there. He looked at Arai, waiting for him to response to his surname.

"Wait what?! That brat is buchou's brother?!" Ryoma could hear Arai scream. Ryoma laughed silently. He looked around and saw Arai looking at him in disbelief. But when he turned on the other side, he saw his brother and Oishi walking towards him. Not wanting to run laps, he quickly continued swinging his racket, despite him being pretty far away from the other first years.

"Ryoma." his brother called him, causing him to stop swinging. He looked at his brother and gritted his teeth. "Tezuka-buchou, Oishi-fukubuchou." he answered. Oishi smiled.

"Congratulations for getting a spot in the ranking tournament. Now work hard so you could be a regular. Yudan sezu ni ikou." Tezuka said, pretending not to know Ryoma's abilities. "Hai. Arigatou gozaimasu buchou, fukubuchou." he bowed a little, then went to gather with the other first years. But before that, he looked at the sky, and mumbled "Mada mada dane," loud enough for Tezuka and Oishi to hear. Oishi smiled again, Tezuka sighed.

* * *

"Haa, Arai-senpai's my first opponent, eh?" Ryoma smirked, looking at Arai.

"Smooth or rough?" Arai asked, spinning his racket. "Rough." Ryoma answered. They waited for a while before the racket fell backwards. "Rough it is, then." Ryoma said, grabbing a tennis ball. He, as usual, used his right hand to play. The last time he used his left hand to play tennis was with his brother, the time when the regulars were spying on them. He always used his right hand to play in every practice. Hence, up to this point, only the current Seigaku regulars knew the fact the Ryoma was actually a south paw. He served as usual and easily got a point.

"Damn you, first year!" Arai shouted at his kouhai. Ryoma was winning 4-0, and Arai was really angry. He had been practicing on his own to be able to defeat Ryoma, but now it seemed that even thought he was trying his best, he would never be able to defeat Ryoma. "Mada mada dane.." Ryoma said out loud, hurting Arai's heart and surprised Eiji - who was the referee at the time - big time. They continued playing like nothing happened.

"Game match, 6-0 Ochibi!" Eiji said enthusiastically. For a second, everyone wondered who was 'Ochibi', but all of them realised when they remembered who won.

"Eiji-senpai, can you please not call me that?" Ryoma asked, slightly annoyed. "Come on, Ochibi! It's cute, right?" Eiji answered. Ryoma shrugged, knowing that he wouldn't be able to persuade Eiji to not call him 'Ochibi'.

"Ryoma 6-0." Ryoma told Fuji, who was sitting on the judging table*. Fuji smiled. "Nicely done, Ryoma-kun." he complimented. Ryoma nodded. "Can I go and have a lunchbreak first?" Ryoma asked. Fuji nodded. "Yes, but you must be back before two." he answered.

* * *

"Two cheeseburgers please." Ryoma ordered. "And what do you want to drink?" the staff asked. "Grape Ponta. Size large." Ryoma quickly answered. He played gambling tennis a week ago and got lots of money! He won more than five thousand yens, enough for two months of Ponta. He took his order and sat behind the front door.

"One set A please, and a can of Pepsi, nya." Ryoma heard a familiar voice. He looked at the person. The person's a redhead, and he just said 'nya'. "Eiji-senpai?" Ryoma said. "Ochibi!" the person called, looking at Ryoma. Ryoma sighed. 'Definitely Eiji-senpai.' He thought.

"Congrats for winning your first match, nya!" Eiji said happily. Ryoma nodded. He tried not to say 'mada mada dane' anymore, he said it lots of times already. "How about your match, Eiji-senpai?" he asked. Eiji made a 'peace' sign and said, "I won 6-0!" happily. Ryoma congratulated him.

"You're going to play a match with Kaidoh, right?" Eiji asked. Ryoma nodded. "Yeah." he answered while taking a bite on his cheeseburger.

"You should be careful, you know." Eiji said. "Don't worry, Eiji senpai, I'm going to be ok." Ryoma answered. "Ochibi, you have to get to the regulars! You're so good, you know?" Eiji said. "Alright, I promise." Ryoma answered, then left Eiji.

* * *

"Next match in Block D, Ryoma vs Kaidoh! The referee will be no other than Tezuka-buchou himself!" Momoshiro announced.

Ryoma frowned as he walked to the court. He saw his brother sitting on the referee's seat. Then he looked at Kaidoh. "Fsshh, I have to play this first year?" Kaidoh said. "Well, I'm sorry if I'm not like your expectations." Ryoma answered.

"Best of one set match. Kaidoh to serve." Tezuka said. Kaidoh started serving, and Ryoma still used his right hand to play. But as he played, he realised that playing against a regular was a whole new level for him, it's not as hard as playing his brother, but since he was using his right hand, he was having a little hard time.

"Game set, 1-0 Kaidoh!" Tezuka announced. As they switched courts, Kaidoh said, "You didn't plan to use your left hand?" Ryoma smirked. "I guess I will use my left hand. I definitely didn't plan to lose, senpai." he answered. Kaidoh nodded. "Good." he said.

Ryoma switched his racket to his left hand, much to Katsuo, Kachiro, and Horio's surprise. Kaidoh hissed, and Tezuka thought 'It's about time.'

"Wait, Fuji-senpai! Ryoma used his left hand?" Horio asked to Fuji who was watching Ryoma's match with Horio and friends. "Well, to tell you the truth, he's.." Fuji stopped when he saw Arai shouting "He's a south paw?!" Fuji laughed at Arai's panic.

"Alright, it's time to get serious now." Ryoma said as he switched the racket to his right hand again. He threw the ball and served.

"I knew it, he's bluffing that he's a south paw." Horio said proudly as if he could answer a really hard question in a second.

"No, he's not. He's doing a twist serve." Fuji said seriously.

"TWIST SERVE?!" Horio, Katsuo and Kachiro shouted in unison.

* * *

**Hooray! I'm finally done! And I guess my inspiration streak stopped! So, back to my usual schedule, I'll update once every two weeks, or once a week if I can. I got exams next week!**

***I don't know what it's called, but it's that table that has a board behind it, and the board has those Blocks results, I hope you understand me xD**

**Review please! And if I made any mistakes, please tell me!**


	6. Block D, Part 2

**Hello! I'm back! I got writer's block a few times, but I finally finish the next chapter! I hope you like it!**

**So anyway, I'm no good at describing matches, and I also couldn't memorise all the details in Ryoma vs Kaidoh, so yeah..**

**Anyway, back to the story!**

* * *

"Twist serve?!" Horio and friends shouted in unison. Fuji smiled. "Yep, it's the twist serve." Fuji answered. "So far, the only person I've ever seen who could return Ryoma-kun's twist serve is Tezuka." he continued. Horio gasped. "That's awesome." he said.

"Huh?" Kaidoh mumbled when he felt a breeze beside him. The ball had passed through him, without him realising. Ryoma smirked when Tezuka announced "15-0." in a flat tone.

"Fsshh.. How did you do that, Ryoma?" Kaidoh said to himself. Ryoma served again and again, and he won the next set. "Game set, 1-1." Tezuka announced. They switched courts again.

They played for a while, until suddenly, Kaidoh used his special move. He hit the ball and it turned towards the net*.

"Whoa! That's Kaidoh-senpai's special move, Snake!" Horio said, surprised. Ryoma couldn't return that ball!

"That snake is just troubling." Ryoma mumbled. Tezuka mentally smirked. _'You have gotten into Kaidoh's trap, Ryoma. If you can figure it out, you win.' _he thought.

* * *

"Game set, 3-2." Tezuka announced after a while. Kaidoh was winning and Ryoma was sweating. But his expression was what surprised everyone, except Tezuka, since he had known Ryoma for a long time. _'He's so persistent. He doesn't know the meaning to give up.. Geez..'_ everyone thought. Ryoma was still smirking, not giving a hint of giving up. _'It's so Ryoma's style. He never know when to give up.' _Fuji thought.

Ryoma served with his twist serve, but Kaidoh managed to return it. Ryoma hit the ball back and prepared near the net as he predicted that the Snake would come soon. And fortunately, he was right. Kaidoh hit the Snake right at where Ryoma was standing. He hit the ball to the edge of the court. That happened many times, Inui noted.

After a while, the score became 3-3 and both of them were sweating. _'What?' _Kaidoh thought. _'How could this be? He was supposed to be the one sweating and tired. But why do I feel like that too?!' _Kaidoh rubbed some sweat at his forehead. Ryoma smirked. "It's quite hot today, ne?" he said. Tezuka was amazed. He knew that his brother would win this match.

"Why did you say that, Fuji-senpai?" Kachiro asked. Fuji had just told the first years that Ryoma would win(it seems that Tezuka and Fuji were thinking about the same thing).

"It's been a while. Kaidoh had partly worn Ryoma-kun out with his snake. But Ryoma-kun managed to realise the trick Kaidoh was pulling and countered it with his returning shots. Look at Ryoma's shots!" Fuji explained, pointing at the ball.

"It.. It always bounced at Kaidoh-senpai's feet!" Horio said. Fuji nooded.

"Correct. That way, to reach the ball Kaidoh must bend** down, and it decreases Kaidoh's stamina by half, probably. Around the same amount as Ryoma-kun. Both of them have around the same amount of stamina, and their tricks were awesome too.. The only difference that would tell who would win was if they realised the trick being played in this match***." Fuji explain all of it.

"Game match, 6-3 Ryoma." Tezuka announced. Kaidoh was enraged. He lost in the battle of endurance. He angrily hit his own leg with his racket, causing it to bleed. It was of course painful, but that didn't mattered. He went off without shaking Ryoma's hand.

"Oh well.." Ryoma muttered while adjusting his hat. He felt tired and needed at least two cans of Ponta to boost him up. He looked at Tezuka. He was certain, that even though not many could see it, Tezuka was smiling, a thin smile appeared on his face. Fuji noted that it's true.

Before the next match he managed to drink 3 cans of grape Pontas, and even though he was using his right hand, he won 6-1, Oishi, who was the referee at the moment, clapped his hands when Ryoma won. It definitely meant that Ryoma would be in the regulars, along with Kaidoh, Momoshiro, Fuji, Taka, Eiji, Tezuka and him. The other schools would be surprised with their regulars!

* * *

"Tadaima.." Ryoma stepped inside. He didn't wait for any answers, his mother was working abroad and his father, his baka oyaji, was acting as a chaperone for his old school tennis team. His brother? Probably in their room, studying as usual.

"Okaerinasai, Ryoma." he heard his brother answered. He looked around and saw his brother drinking tea in the living room, watchng TV at the same time. His brother went home early, since Eiji forced Ryoma to go with him to eat burger. Ryoma had taken a bath and changed, so he decided to sit with his brother.

"Onii-san, I won all three matches." Ryoma reported. Tezuka nodded. "Yes. Congratulations for your win, but now as a regular you must work harder than usual, understand?" Ryoma nodded slightly.

"At least, onii-san, stop being a stern buchou at home." Ryoma said.

"For morning practice tomorrow, I want you to run an extra 50 laps."

"WHAT?!"

* * *

**Hooray, done! I'm so glad! **

*** I'm not good at explaining how the Snake was, I'm sorry..**

**** No good at setails :P**

***** I tried to memorize what Fuji/Momo/anyone I don't remember lol said during Ryoma vs Kaidoh. Someone said something similar to that.**

**So? What do you think? Review please! **

**If I made any mistake, please inform me!**


	7. Brother Fight

**Hello again folks! I hope you're still reading this story! From now on, I'll probably update weekly, I think I already said that.. Anyway, review answer!**

**August Rush: who are you and how did you know my name?**

**Anyway, back to the story!**

* * *

"Ryoma, remember that you still have to run fifty laps." Tezuka pointed out coldly on the way to school. Ryoma pouted. "Yes, yes, Mitsu nii-san. I know!" he yelled at his brother. Tezuka gave Ryoma his special 'I-will-give-you-80-laps-if-you-don't-shut-up' glare.

That day was the first day of Winter. Both Tezukas were walking through their usual route. And this time, they didn't see Eiji. Since it was cold, Tezuka wore his Seigaku regular's jacket, but Ryoma's jacket was still on process, so he wore a simple red and silver* jacket. They didn't talk about anything, they even walked further apart!

* * *

"Ah, they're early!" Fuji said. He saw both Tezukas in the court. What he was surprised about was that Tezuka was still resting while Ryoma was already running.

"I never knew Ryoma's that diligent?" Fuji mumbled to himself. He entered the court and greeted both of them.

"Ohayou Tezuka, Ryoma-kun! So why is Ryoma-kun suddenly so diligent today, Tezuka? Did you do something to him?" Fuji asked.

"Ohayou, Fuji. As a matter of fact yes. I did assign him laps. That's no way on earth that Ryoma would be so diligent, you know.." Tezuka answered.

"Hey, I heard that! And ohayou, Fuji-senpai!" Ryoma shouted angrily.

"Quick, you still got twenty three laps to go, and it's almost seven!" Tezuka shouted back. Ryoma shouted a 'Fine!' And fastened his pace, hence finishing his laps faster.

* * *

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Ryuzaki-sensei!"

Ryuzaki entered the court together with Inui. She smiled as she answered "Good morning!" and started hitting some balls with a random racket she got from the ground ("Hey, it's my racket!" Eiji pouted). The freshmen had a pretty hard time picking the balls since they were scattered all over the court.

"Alright, this is the regulars' training menu, listen up!" Inui announced as he started mentioning the menu. Ryoma paid little to no attention at all. When Inui finished his menu, Tezuka walked towards him and talked with him for a moment. When they finished, Inui announced once more. "For Ryoma, you'll do the training menu 1.5 times the normal training menu, alright?" Ryoma gasped. His brother must've told Inui to say so! He clenched his fists as he said "Hai, Inui-senpai."

"You! You asked Inui-senpai to say that, didn't you?!" Ryoma yelled angrily. Tezuka looked at Ryoma and answered nonchalantly, "And how did you come up with that ridiculous theory, Ryoma?" "Well, Inui-senpai stopped talking and he didn't have anything to say anymore.. Until you talked with him! There's no way Inui-senpai would just suddenly come up with that ridiculous idea!" Ryoma yelled louder.

"Did you think I'm not good enough? You're my brother, you've seen my progress! You're the one who told me that I'm getting better! Or was it all a lie? I don't care that the training would be useful to me or some sort, but it's just unfair! I know that you trust your fellow regulars, and yet didn't you trust me? You acted like you don't know me at all! If that's what you want, then fine, **_TEZUKA-BUCHOU_**!" Ryoma shouted and left angrily.

"Fine, **_ECHIZEN_**!" Tezuka snapped. His face wasn't his usual stoic face anymore. It changed into a deep frown, angry brows, and a popped vein. Echizen was their mother's maiden name. Ryoma could be called that too.

* * *

"Ne, Ochibi? I thought you're heading home with Tezuka, nya?" Eiji asked Ryoma right after he saw the boy in the burger shop, eating fries and drinking grape ponta, as usual.

"Ah. Eiji-senpai, please don't call me that.. And no, I'm not going home with Tezuka-buchou." Ryoma answered, eating his fries calmly. Eiji looked at Ryoma thoroughly.

"Since when are you that formal, nya? I thought you addressed Tezuka with 'Nii-san'.. nya?" Eiji said, suddenly using so many 'nya's.

"Well, I'm in formal mode, Eiji-senpai.." Ryoma answered shortly. Eiji grinned. "Formal, huh?" he mumbled.

"Well, I hope we'll win the regionals! Jaa, Ochibi!" Eiji said as he left the shop.

"Ochibi janai!" Ryoma said, a little angry.

* * *

"Tadaima.." Ryoma said. He didn't wait for any answer, nor he expected one. His brother wouldn't bother waiting for him at all, he was certan of it. And he wasn't surprised to see his brother's back when he opened their room's door. After he finished taking a bath and changed, he went downstairs.

Today, he had to make dinner. He didn't want to do much, so he prepared some rice, fish, egg, and also eel. He was going to make sushi for dinner. When he's ready, he shouted "Dinner!" then ate tamagosushi. They didn't talk about anything at all during dinner.

The next day, they were still fighting.

* * *

**Finally! Done for the next chapter! Sorry for the late update! I got writer's block and there were lots of tests! **

**So, what do you think? Please review!**


	8. Being Sick and Being Brothers Again

**Hey guys! I'm back! Sorry for the little late update (I guess) and this time I'm warning you. Probably there will be an OOC on Ryoma and Tezuka. And I was thinking to end this story soon! But what will you think?**

**Anyway, if you don't like OOC, stupid plot, etc. See the back button on the top left part on your computer? Yes, press that.**

**PoT belongs to Takeshi Konomi. Though I really wish to own PoT *sigh***

* * *

"Ohayou, Ryoma!" Horio said happily. Ryoma frowned as always, and ignored Horio. Ryoma wasn't exactly in the mood today, and he felt unhealthy and requested to be excused from practice. Oishi, being the mother hen, of course let him. But right before Ryoma left, Tezuka entered the court. Ryoma mentally cursed his feet not to run faster. Tezuka ordered Ryoma to keep joining the practice, despite Ryoma being sick.

"Tezuka, you're just being mean to Ryoma-kun." Oishi said to Tezuka. Tezuka inwardly frowned.

"Echizen was just lying about being sick. Look, he's just fine at the court." Tezuka answered calmly. Oishi wondered who 'Echizen' was, but then figured that it was Ryoma.

"Nani? You're calling Ryoma-kun with Echizen now, Tezuka?" Fuji smiled evilly. Fuji knew what that meant. The brothers were fighting. Inui suddenly showed up and wrote something in his notebook.

"Data, data.." Inui said excitedly. _'Ryoma can be called Echizen too.. I see.. Data.. Data..' _Inui thought. He looked at his notebook, slightly excited like a child who was just given a candy.

The thrid years, excluding Eiji, looked at Ryoma. He looked sick. Ryoma lost to Arai by 6-4. Arai smiled triumphantly that he was able to defeat a regular. But that smile quickly vanished when Oishi told the second year that Ryoma was sick. Arai looked at Ryoma, who was close to collapsing.

"Then why did you accept my challenge if you're sick?!" Arai asked, enraged. Ryoma didn't answer, and walked slowly towards the locker room. He couldn't take it anymore. He was sick and he had to rest, no matter what the captain says. He walked past the third years and left. Even Tezuka didn't say anything to return Ryom back to the practice. Inui kept on writing something in his notebook. Fuji didn't say anything, and they all went back to practice.

* * *

"Tezuka! Is sleeping in class more important than my subject?!" the teacher asked furiously. The said student woke up from his nap and looked at his teacher sheepishly.

"Erm.. What were you talking about again, sensei?" he asked. Almost right after that, the teacher slammed his book on the student's table, dropping all his things, including his white Fila cap.

"You were sleeping in class! Now quickly answer the question or I'm sending you out!" the teacher yelled. Ryoma looked at the board and saw a question neatly written.

'When was the Taika Reformation?' was written on the board. Ryoma stood up, took a marker, and wrote '645' with his neat handwriting. Right after that, the other students started whispering to each other.

"Eh, I thought it was supposed to be 625?"

"No, I think it's 635.."

"Really?"

Ryoma sighed at the students. He walked back to his chair and continued sleeping again. His head was about to split into two pieces.

* * *

"Okaa-san will be home today, Ryoma." Tezuka said when he got home. Tezuka didn't call Ryoma with 'Echizen' anymore, but Ryoma was sure that Tezuka was still angry.

"Hai. I heard that from baka oyaji too, nii-san." Ryoma answered. Tezuka nodded. "If so, then we must at least stop fighting for just a day, understand?" he asked.

"Listen, it's not that I want to fight you, but I think yesterday was just unfair, you know?" Ryoma answered. He was again close to collapsing, but he could still talk about their fight. Tezuka nodded. "I know it's unfair, okay? But now, do you agree that we should stop fighting first?" he asked quickly. As soon as he got an approval from Ryoma, he quickly left.

* * *

"Here, eat this." Tezuka gave his brother a bowl of soup. Ryoma quickly ate it, and he finished right before their mother arrived home.

"Tadaima! Mitsu, Ryoma!" their mother said happily. What mother wouldn't be happy meeting her children after a few days without any news? But to her surprise, only the older brother, Mitsu went down to help her.

"Where's Ryoma, Mitsu? No, no, it's okay, let Ryoma carry these later." their mother, Rinko, said when Mitsu was about to carry all of the bags. Mitsu continued carrying all of it.

"Ryoma's sick, okaa-san." Mitsu answered nonchalantly. Rinko flinched.

"Ryoma is sick? Oh my! Did you give him any medicine?" she asked. Mitsu stopped in front of a nice mahogany door and opened it, put all of the bags inside, then shook his head.

"No, okaa-san. We're out of medicine. But I did give him a bowl of soup, though. I think he got a cold, considering that it's winter right now." Mitsu answered. Rinko nodded.

* * *

"Ryoma, are you okay now?" Tezuka asked his brother. Both of them were now in their room. Ryoma nodded. His headache was getting better now. He was just sleepy at the moment.

"Listen, nii-san.. I'm sorry for yelling at you yesterday. I just felt wrong. Since I got into the club, we were kinda like seperated from each other. I don't feel the same like when I'm at America and you were sitting together with baka oyaji and okaa-san, watching me play in the finals. Or when we play tennis together? It was one of the best memories I had. But now it seemed like we were strangers." Ryoma said. Tezuka showed his rare smile.

"I'm sorry for being too hard on you too, Ryoma... Brothers*?" Tezuka asked. Ryoma smiled weakly.

"Brothers."

* * *

**Hooray! Look at me! Major OOC! Or minor? Anyway, what do you think? I was thinking to make this the final chapter but it all depends on you, readers! Do you think I should continue the story for the sake of the cute little brothers? You can send the answers in the form of review, or PM!**

***Do you guys know like the saying 'Friends?' like.. You know? So I changed it into 'Brothers?'**

**Review please! Revies will be greatly appreciated!  
**


	9. Bonus chapter: Surprise!

**Hello! Sorry for not updating in about asdfghjkl lol but I got a really awful writer's block and also this past two weeks are my test week. My brain literally got toasted!**

**Also, allow me to thank all of you, for reviewing and asking me to continue the story :D **

**In this chapter, the regulars will be having a slight OOC lol and I opened their hidden talents, though I'm sure that it's fake xD**

**Anyway, this story might also be categorized as a side story, but..**

**Let's just continue the story!**

* * *

"Hee? What happened to them yesterday? Today they're like.. Normal again?! I thought they were fighting?" Oishi said, curious. Eiji shook his head.

"Dunno, nya.. But ochibi's so cute now, not like yesterday, he's so gloomy!" he stopped. "... Nya!" he suddenly said when he remembered that he forgot to say it.

Ryoma was practicing normally without any protest and Inui was watching him cautiously, as if Ryoma could eat him anytime if he wasn't being careful. Oishi, who was looking at Inui's strange behaviour, couldn't help but thought of his captain's catchphrase 'Yudan sezu ni ikou.' And he laughed inwardly.

Ryoma as usual, smirked as he practiced and drank Grape Ponta straight away after he finished his practice. Both Oishi and Eiji decided to watch Momo and Kaidoh's match instead, since watching Ryoma started to get really boring.

"Mamushi! I'm going to defeat you!" Momo yelled.

"What are you talking about, peach?!" Kaidoh growled.

"What did you say? Don't you dare tease me, you stupid Mamushi!" Momo said angrily. The match suddenly stopped and was continued with an arguing match. Both of them shouted angrily at each other, not knowing that a certain brunette was standing between them. By the time they realised, it was too late.

"Momo and Kaidoh, 20 laps!" Tezuka said in a dangerous, gloomy voice. Both of them quickly ran their laps.

"Alright! Today we'll have some quick matches! The losers must drink.." Inui said, then showed the regulars a jug of a green-colored drink.

"My first concoction! Inui's special vegetable juice*!" the data player continued sadistically. Everyone, wait, scratch that. Almost everyone frowned. Fuji kept on smiling like it wasn't something to be afraid of, while Tezuka remained his stoic mask and Ryoma smirked at the challenge.

* * *

"Alright! Here are the matches! First is Taka vs Momo at court A, Kaidoh vs Oishi at court B, Tezuka vs Fuji at court C, and last but not least, Ryoma vs Eiji at court D. Since it's a quick match, the first one to win three sets wins!" Inui said excitedly. All of them quickly prepared themselves, then played their respective matches.

Eiji and Ryoma's match was the longest. Both of them just didn't seem to give up! Tezuka, who finished his match first, watched patiently as his brother played against the acrobatic player. _'Hm? That's odd.. Ryoma's movements.. They were much slower. What's going on?' _He thought as Ryoma couldn't hit the ball around 3 meters from him.

"Too bad, Ochibi! I won the game! Now drink Inui's juice!" Eiji said cheerfully. Ryoma gulped. Stupid leg. Because of a stupid leg, he lost. He looked at the other regulars. Both Momo and Kaidoh were throwing up. He looked at Fuji. He should've lost, since his brother must be stronger than him, but Fuji didn't throw up.

"Come on, drink it, Ryoma! I strongly recommend the juice!" Fuji said cheerfully. Ryoma gulped. He reluctantly drank it. Suddenly, his head was spinning and before he knew it, he fell on the ground and fainted.

* * *

"Ryoma!"

"Ryoma, you awake?"

"Where.. Am I?"

"Guess, nya!"

"Eiji-senpai?"

"Ryoma-kun.. Uh.. Can you.. Uh.. Get up?"

"Nani..?"

"Echizen.. Ryoma..!"

"Where am I? What happened?"

Ryoma opened his eyes completely. He blinked a few times and saw his fellow regulars around him. The first thing he felt was the unbearable pain on his leg, or to be exact, his left ankle.

"Senpai-tachi? Isn't this.." he stopped for a moment. "My... Room?" he finished. Tezuka gave Ryoma a slight nod.

"I brought you here. Then Fuji and the others came to visit, so this happened." Tezuka explained briefly as he waved his hands towards his fellow regulars.

"Ochibi, what happened? When I played you earlier, your movements were totally off!" Eiji quickly asked right after Ryoma poured him some tea. Ryoma sat down, looking down, both of his hands were holding the teacup. Ryoma really didn't want to tell the other regulars about the injury, so he didn't say anything.

"What's with your leg?" Tezuka suddenly said, breaking the silence. Ryoma flinched. 'How did he know?!' He thought. He sighed, then showed his left ankle which was, to the surprise of the regulars (especially Oishi), already swollen.

"How did that happen?" Momo asked, still surprised. Ryoma shook his head.

"It was nothing, I accidentally hit a trunk, that's all." Ryoma said, giving a really lame excuse.

"Ah, alright.. Take care, then. I should be going now, it's late." Momo said, leaving. _'No way, he actually bought my lie?'_ Ryoma thought to himself, surprised. A few minutes later, the others also left.

* * *

"Ryoma, you lied." Tezuka said nonchalantly towards his brother. Ryoma, who was washing the cups, nodded hesitately.

"Yeah, I lied. Why, you ask?" Ryoma stopped for a moment. "It's because I prepared something, then I fell when I wanted to hang it." he continued calmly. The older Tezuka looked at his brother curiously, but asked nothing more.

"Come on, I'll show you something." Ryoma pulled Tezuka's hand towards the guest room. Tezuka entered the room first, and he was surprised what he saw.

"Happy birthday, Tezuka/buchou/Nii-san!" Tezuka's fellow regulars plus Inui said excitedly.

"This is..!" he said, dropping his stoic face. Ryoma smirked.

The room was filled with different kinds of art, from a simple stickman drawing, to a really realistic drawing of the Seigaku regulars. Tezuka saw a woodcrafted birdhouse, and peeked inside. He saw the Seigaku Regulars inside. The regulars were molded with clay plasticine.

Then he moved to the left side of the room. He saw a photograph of himself playing tennis. The photograph was accurately snapped, since the picture wasn't blur and he could even see the tennis ball. Beside that was another picture of him and his brother. When he saw that picture, he immediately recognise it. It was about a week ago, when they had a match, at the same day when Ryoma first joined the tennis club. Then he saw an album. He opened it and he was surprised. All of it were beautifully snapped.

At the right side of the room, he could see a model of his favorite type of sushi. Then he saw a complete set of dental kits, which was odd since it looked like Eiji's dental kit. Then he saw a handmade doll of himself wearing the Seigaku regular's jacket, holding a tennis racket on his left hand and tennis ball on his right hand. Then, he saw some books. He opened one of the books and saw that it was a textbook, full of exercise questions. Some other books contain tennis-related things. Lastly, he saw a nice, framed drawing of him and something about his past. It was a younger him and younger Oishi, standing side by side. Right behind them was his captain, Yamato Yudai. Tezuka smiled at that picture.

_'Dental kit from Eiji. The plush doll might be from Momo and Kaidoh. The pictures and the album from Fuji. The old drawing must be from Oishi. The sushi things from Kawamura. Books from Inui..' _Tezuka thought. _'Then.. What about Ryoma?' _He then thought.

"Ryoma.. It's not that I'm expecting anything.. But where's yours?" Tezuka asked his brother. Ryoma looked at Tezuka, then shrugged.

"The other things that weren't from senpai-tachi are all from me.. Plus.." Ryoma stopped as he lifted the birdhouse.

"This was supposed to be on top of the room. But when I tried to hang it, I fell and I hurt my ankle.." Ryoma explained.

"So, do you like it?" Oishi asked. Tezuka smiled.

"I love it. Thanks a lot!"

* * *

**Alright! The chapter is done! What do you think? Please review!**

**Anyway, this fic is completed! But don't worry, I've thought of a sequel! Well.. Maybe not a sequel, but some sort.. I hope you'll patiently wait for it lol**

**Thanks for all of your support!**


	10. Epilogue: The Fall

**Hello again****! Sorry for not updating for so long! I'm trying to get any information and tried my best to link it to this ff, but I just can't... So, since I promised to continue it, though short, I will present to you the last chapter, as well as the epilogue... I'm sorry to disappoint you all, though...**

**Ryoma: MysteryPT does not own Prince of Tennis.**

* * *

Ryoma looked at the right side of the court. He really missed playing tennis. Since his ankle was injured, the doctor precisely instructed him not to burden his ankle too much, especially doing sports. That news was absolutely disheartening, but he was sure that it's worth it.

Ryoma was amused to see his brother playing Fuji at Court C. He stopped for a moment to watch the match. At first, both of them played gracefully and without any flaw. But as the tension grew, Fuji exploded. Fuji was far from the word calm. His hair became messy after a lot of running through the court. Fuji was hitting the ball here and there, not caring that it went out of the court. That was the sign that Fuji was already angry and annoyed. Any player would definitely feel triumphant to anger a Fuji Syuusuke in the court, but a Tezuka Kunimitsu would be ever-serious.

Looking at the final score, Ryoma couldn't help but feel proud of his brother. He was smiling, though just a small smile. But that smile disappeared as quick as it appeared when his brother shouted,

"Ryoma, 50 laps, now! Don't ever be late again!"

Ryoma grumbled.

* * *

"Alright, tomorrow we will join the regionals. Prepare yourself. Regulars, start training, the first years, start collecting balls. Tezuka brothers, follow me." Coach Ryuzaki ordered. All the Seigaku team did as they were ordered, while both Ryoma and Kunimitsu followed their *cougholdcough* coach.

"What's the reason for calling us, Ryuzaki-sensei?" Tezuka asked nonchalantly. They hadn't even moved yet, but both of them were ready to attack their coach with unlimited askings, each with different types of questions.

"Oh, can't you wait for a sec? Let me control the other students first... Pkease wait for a moment and don't. you. dare. even. touch. a. racket!" Ryuzaki said the last sentence threateningly. Ryoma was about to protest, but his brother simply shut his mouth with a slight death glare.

Pouting, Ryoma turned around to 'enjoy' the view. He looked at Oishi and Eiji, both playing nicely, as if they really understood each other. He somewhat imagined what would the other regulars react if he suddenly played doubles, together with Mitsu! Oh wow, they sure would be very, very surprised! He didn't even realise that he was grinning until he saw his brother looking at him like he was crazy.

"What's wrong?"

"You're grinning."

"So?"

"It means you have something extremely weird in your mind. What's wrong?" he asked again.

"It's none of your business." the younger boy answered as he followed their coach when she gestured them to follow her.

* * *

They went inside the school building and walked all the way to Ryuzaki-sensei's office. The office was surprisingly neat. Ryoma looked at a simple brown folder on a desk, and without any delay he asked about it.

"Ahh.. That's exactly why I called you two. Though this is actually just for Tezuka Kunimitsu, but I also want you to be here, Ryoma, to give, ehm... Family support. Anyway, Tezuka.. A man named Jason came all the way here just to give you this. I personally think that you shouldn't let him down." Ryuzaki-sensei said quickly. Tezuka opened the folder and scanned through the papers in it. Ryoma tried to read a little bit too, though it was hard since his brother raised the folder too high. But he managed to see one thing - the sender.

"Oh my god! Nii-san, they invited you to join the men's tournament in Germany?! Seriously?! Congrats!" Ryoma said loudly, proud that his brother was acknowledged even at Germany, all the way from Europe!

"I.. I don't know.." Tezuka stuttered. He was surely suocked with the sudden news. He was currently trying to accept them, the fact that THAT rare invitation for a rare occasion.. For him it was a one in a million chance!

"Go. Go and win that German tournament." Ryoma said without any doubt. But Ryoma didn't understand about the consequences, Tezuka mused. He remembered that he promised that he would brig Seigaku to victory during his time. What would his team do without him?

"Listen, nii-san. This is somethig rare. Go and win. We'll do just fine here.. Though I'm sure I'm going to miss you." Ryoma said as if he knew what his brother was thinking about. Tezuka glanced at Ryoma with a sad face, as if telling him that he was in a fight with himself, whether he should go or not.

"Go home and think about it. They want an answer by tomorrow. Make sure you have one." Ryuzaki-sensei said after a long silence. Both of them nodded, and left without saying a single word.

* * *

"Listen, Tezuka. It's a good chance. Go, and win it for us!"

"Tezuka, you know both Oishi and Ryoma-kun are right. You shouldn't miss this opportunity!"

"See? Even Fuji-senpai and Oishi-fukubuchou agreed with me! Why don't you just accept defeat, nii-san?" Ryoma snorted. Tezuka had invited Fuji and Oishi to ask their opinion and hoping that they wouldn't let him leave, but that plan totally backfired. Even just after Tezuka gave them a piece of info, Oishi already shouted at him to acept the offer. Tezuka sighed in defeat.

"Alright.. So, how's it?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked right at that morning, before the first period.

"I accept."

* * *

The next thing he knew during the tournament was that Seigaku didn't win the nationals. He was sad of that news, but he was sadder that he wasn't there for them. It broke his heart to send comforting messages through the email - he wanted to just tell them that in person.

Then, Ryoma found out that his brother didn't win the tournament. But he was very proud to say that he was in the final four. And the fact thay he was the youngest participant in that tournament.

* * *

**Phew.. Finish. I'm sorry if the story turned out bad. But this is the best I can have when I have a beta on hiatus and a stuck mind. I was supposed to have a competition tomorrow and two tests the day after, but meh, this is already waiting.**

**Okay, reviews please? Flames would be okay, my mom's caught a flu right now.**


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